The implementation carried out by SimCorp, fully remotely, as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, ensured ATP could carry out test operations, maintaining operational efficiency and business continuity ahead of the third wave, in already tumultuous market conditions. The go-live sees SimCorp supporting ATP with reporting for repos and buy sell-backs, tri-party repo collateral managed by Euroclear, and collateral re-investment. With fluid integration to Euroclear’s assisted reporting service for tri-party collateral, ATP can automatically submit SFTR reports across their full security financing business, without manual interventions.
Morten Holst Kruse, Head of Business Systems at ATP comments: “We are pleased to have implemented in what has been a fast and fully-remote process, and with comprehensive user testing effectively completed in December, well ahead of the third phase. ATP has already seen the benefits of SimCorp’s SFTR solution in production, including high quality, automated reporting. What has been particularly valuable, is the ability to integrate our tri-party repo collateral and reporting of re-used collateral, which efficiently consolidates the process for the business and provides a complete picture to the regulator”.
With regulatory reporting being a critical concern for buy-side firms operating in Europe, the last 12 months has placed a crucial demand for decision-making on how to approach SFTR reporting . While many firms are busy settling into their chosen approach and ironing out the kinks, the end of the transition period for Brexit has added a new pressure for some. With clear implications for many UK firms and their SFTR reporting, it poses an altogether different operational minefield. To alleviate this, SimCorp’s platform is offering clients support for the on-shored SFTR UK regime reporting, enabling them to report automatically and seamlessly in both jurisdictions, the UK and the EU.
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ATP joins a growing number of clients choosing SimCorp to meet their SFTR reporting needs. Earlier this year German asset manager Ampega, a long-standing SimCorp client, also went live with the solution in the second phase of the regulation, on October 12, covering security lending, including tri-party collateral, and repos.
Alexander Pfeil, Team Lead Business Operations at Ampega comments: “For Ampega, the extension for the platform to include SFTR reporting, seemed a natural next step, having come to rely on SimCorp’s regulatory services and solution for EMIR reporting. As a result, we have quickly realized additional value, particularly where we can address the complexity of tri-party collateral operations. SimCorp’s Regulatory Center of Excellence has shown incredible knowledge and expertise on the technical details of SFTR reporting requirements and has been a huge support to our team. Combined with their established delivery of regulatory services, we have been guaranteed hassle-free reporting from the start. Shortly after reporting commenced , we were already able to focus on the finer details of exception management, including working with our counterparties to resolve reconciliation errors.
Gernot Schmidt, Product Manager for Regulatory Solutions at SimCorp comments: “We are pleased to welcome ATP and Ampega to a growing number of buy-side firms choosing SimCorp’s Regulatory Reporting Platform. By delivering the solution through a highly automated and consolidated platform, we were able to accommodate our client’s specific needs around the complex areas of tri-party collateral data and re-use. From early on, the industry understood the data challenges that SFTR would bring and we designed our solution to offer flexibility for sourcing the data, without needing to redesign established operational processes. Additionally, with Brexit concluded, we can now see in action the value of fusing together cloud technologies and managed services. It’s already clear, that SFTR UK and SFTR EU will diverge sooner rather than later, and our offering saves clients the headache of dealing with this complex problem. This goes beyond cost efficiencies, and enables firms to concentrate on achieving alpha and employing key experts to add value in the investment process”.
Officially launched, five months ahead of the original SFTR go-live date back in October 2019, SimCorp’s SFTR reporting solution has been designed to offer buy-side clients a flexible and integrated solution for SFTR transaction reporting. The solution has been developed with pilot client, PGGM, one of Europe’s largest pension fund service providers, who have taken a proactive stance to the SFTR regulation from the very beginning. Serving 4.4. million members, the pension fund was up and running on the solution, far ahead of the later delayed, April go-live date. Having witnessed a smooth and successful transition, the pension fund service provider processed over 320 trades and over 590 valuations in the very first month.
Barry Vrijssen, Manager Operations at PGGM adds: “Having worked with SimCorp for a number of years, including on regulatory support for both EMIR and MiFIR, we knew when SFTR came along, that it made sense to have one source of data for both reporting and operational workflows. SimCorp’s consolidated approach, integrated Investment Book of Record (IBOR), market-standard solution and ability to customize to our unique needs, have been critical to our success.”
Central to the success of SimCorp’s SFTR solution, is its integrated Investment Book of Record (IBOR), built since inception. Delivering one source of seamless and unified data, SimCorp clients benefit from the same highly automated daily report processes, they have in place for investment and collateral operations. At the same time, and as part of its service-oriented approach SimCorp is also taking on the responsibility and maintenance of compliance with SFTR, as a managed service. This includes capturing and implementing all regulatory changes, within seamless upgrades.
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